President Park Geun-hye on Monday met with Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba, the world’s biggest internet commerce company, to discuss ways to expand global online trading, and digital content sharing with Korean companies.

Park asked Ma to support local small and medium-sized companies seeking business opportunities in online markets in China by developing a more efficient logistics system and product certificate programs together, officials said.

The president also requested the head of Alibaba to play a leading role in easing regulations imposed by the Chinese government on foreign TV programs. Currently, China bans local TV channels from devoting more than 25 percent of their daily air time, including primetime, to foreign programs.

Park also stressed the benefits of deregulating the digital content industry and expanding investment in the sector, adding that they would help related businesses in both countries to achieve early successes and to accelerate cultural exchanges.

Ma said that he was visiting Seoul to seek ways to implement agreements signed by the leaders of Korea and China last month. Park and her counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to expand economic cooperation to the service and cultural sectors and to encourage Korean and Chinese businesses to make inroads into each other’s domestic markets. Ma was part of the the business delegation that accompanied Xi on his state visit to Seoul.

Alibaba, headquartered in Hangzhou, China, operates online marketplaces for both international and domestic trade. In 2007, the company dominated 80 percent of Chinese online shopping markets. Transaction on its online markets also totaled $248 billion last year, according to recent reports.

The CEO was also scheduled to meet Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan later in the afternoon.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)